After struggling to start my 81 sportster for 4 weeks following a total rebuild, I finally realised I had put in a cam gear 180 degrees out. Finally sorted that out and today it fired first time. Went for a slow run to make sure everything was working as it should. Found my back brakes non existant and took it back home for a look. When I tried to restart the bike I got total silence. Solenoid not clicking, starter not turning. Just silence. I put a meter on it and traced everything I could think of. Relay works, all circuits have power but all I get is the sound of silence. I am at a loss. Electrics have never been my favourite part but I get by. This however has me stumped. Help

 

Remove , clean and reinstall your battery treminals/cables. Also check the connections on the other ends of the cables like ground and at the starter.

 

Yep, done all that. It just seems strange that in the 4 weeks I struggled to start it I never had a problem with turning the motor over. As I said it turned over and fired first time this morning but then absolutely nothing. I just wonder if the main contact breaker could be stuck open. Not used to them. Is there any way to test for this?

 

You can temporarily jump the breaker to see if it is at fault with a piece of wire about 14 gauge, but don't forget to remove it again after you try this.They do go bad. Also make sure that if you do this that the jumper does not get hot immediately that would indicate a short in the system, if so remove it immediately and find the short.

https://www.hdforums.com/m_151613/tm.htm

 

Thanks for that. I hate electrics.

 

If you get a 12 volt test light and clip it to ground, you start at the POS of the battery and go through the system point by point. You will eventually come across the problem, unless of course the problem is in the ground side of the system, then you clip the light on to the positive post and use that to probe for ground going through the circuit backwards until you loose the light. You should also keep in mind using the test light that it is possible to light the light without sufficient connection to start the bike (amps). If in doubt about a connection remove and clean it and reinstall it.

 

ok. Starter motor will now turn over as long as the wire from coil to points is disconnected. The moment I connect it I have a massive short. Being a non electrical type but using a lot of imagination I assume I have a short in the ignition system? Would this be a bold assumption or is it still a matter of starting at the beginning and doing a complete trace

 

12v test light applied. Points when closed are earthed. If I put a bit of cardboard between the points the starter motor turns over. The moment I remove it the points short the whole system and nada.